Saturday, June 23, 2018

Jean-Francois Legare of Air Canada enRoutewas named editor of the year at the annual Editors' Choice Awards presented June 21st at a social held in Toronto by the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME). It was the first time a custom magazine editor had won the honour. Style at Home, Canadian Living, Western Living and Vancouver Magazine also took home a couple of awards each. Here is the full list of winners:

Magazine of the Year, Small Circulation: Vancouver Magazine, Anicka Quin

Magazine of the Year, Medium Circulation: Western Living, Anicka Quin

Magazine of the Year, Large Circulation: Canadian Living, Erin McLaughlin

Magazine of the Year, Trade: Precedent, Melissa Kluger

Magazine of the Year, Custom: Air Canada enRoute, Jean-Francois Legare

Deborah Morrison, the former publisher of Canada's History magazine and, most recently, president and CEO of Experiences Canada, has been appointed to a four-year term on the board of the National Capital Commission of Canada. The appointment is effective June 25 and was made by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Mélanie Joly.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

[This post has been amended]TIME Magazine's July 2 issue will be a photo illustration incorporating a photo of U.S. president Donald Trump and a two-year old Honduran girly weeping as her mother was detained in McAllen, Texas. The little girl's photo was taken by John Moore, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for Getty Images.

“This one was tough for me. As soon as it was over, they were put into a van. I had to stop and take deep breaths,” Moore told TIME Tuesday, describing his reaction to the scene...“All I wanted to do was pick her up. But I couldn’t.”

[Correction: "TIME Magazine issued a correction on Friday for a photograph previously said to depict a two-year-old Honduran child being taken away by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Thursday, June 14, 2018

St. Joseph Media has bought Totem from Yellow Pages Ltd., and plans to roll it under its custom publishing division, Strategic Content Labs. Among the custom publications Totem produces are the quarterly CAA Magazine with combined readership of 4.5 million. Other Totem clients include The Hockey News and The London Magazine. The company was founded in 2008 as Redwood Custom Communications, and was for a time owned by TC Media and renamed Totem and sold in 2008 to Yellow Pages in 2016.

“We look forward to working with Totem and its clients to not only maintain the great level of service being provided, but to supplement it with the expanded capabilities available through Strategic Content Labs and St. Joseph’s complete range of business offerings,’’ said St. Joseph Media President Douglas Kelly.

Launched four years ago, Strategic Content Labs produces publications in the consumer products, travel, culture, association, university and college, and government sectors. Its clients have included Grey Goose, Greater Toronto Airport Authority, National Music Centre, University of Guelph and Heritage Canada.

St. Joseph Media’s stable of consumer brands includes Toronto Life and FASHION Magazine.

[This post has been updated] Rogers Communications is cutting its publishing and digital staff by a third -- with a total of 75 full-time employees laid off. The casualties included Steve Maich, the senior vice-president of digital publishing and content and Lianne George, the editor-in-chief of Chatelaine magazine, [Update: both of whom resigned.] (It may seem ironic that George was honoured just last week as the Editor Grand Prix at the National Magazine Awards.)According to the Rogers announcement the layoffs are the latest effort to overhaul the company's magazine strategy, yet another attempt to scale back its publishing division in the face of a loss of ad revenues, although the company said the changes won't mean any titles discontinued or have an impact on the quality of content or frequency of print issues. (Rogers ended the print editions of Canadian Business, Flare, MoneySense and Sportsnet magazines in 2016 and reduced the print frequency of Maclean's, Chatelaine and Today's Parent.)

“The publishing industry continues to face challenges, as print declines outpace digital growth,” Andrea Goldstein, senior director of communications for Rogers Media, said in a statement. “We have reorganized our digital content and publishing structure to reflect the headwinds the industry is facing and make the business sustainable.”

Monday, June 11, 2018

Two of western Canada's largest and most successful magazines -- Vancouver magazine and Western Living -- have been acquired by Canada Wide Media. (Canada Wide publishes, among other things, BCBusiness, TV Week and the digital lifestyle title BCLiving.)

“These are two of the most prestigious magazines in Western Canada, and we are thrilled to add these exemplary brands to our portfolio,” said Peter Legge, chair and CEO of Canada Wide in a story on BCBusiness. “The addition of these titles to our stable of magazines gives us the largest reach in all of the West.”

With an annual readership of 314,000, Vancouver has been the city’s preeminent publication for more than 50 years. Western Living, which has an annual readership of 287,000, focuses on home design and décor, food and wine, and travel.

The Legge family has owned Canada Wide for more than 40 years, establishing it as Western Canada’s largest independent media company.

Wednesday, June 06, 2018

“This Canada Council policy is going to be problematic for any Canadian publisher who wants to do something meaningful in the way of succession.If I can’t do it with Ken Whyte, I don’t think anyone can do it. Somebody needs to explain that to the Canada Council.”

-- Publisher Tim Inkster commenting in a story in the Globe and Mail about why a deal to sell The Porcupine's Quill t0 Ken Whyte is in jeopardy because of an apparent impasse about core funding from the Canada Council.

Friday, June 01, 2018

The Site magazine captured the coveted overall Magazine Grand Prix award at the NationalMagazine AwardsFriday night in Toronto. The award honours essentially "best in show", the magazine that delivers the best consistency, packaging, and reader
experience; that demonstrates overall excellence in bringing teams together to
create a spectacular product; is aspirational and inspiring, helping to take
magazine media to the next level. The jury said of the
magazine:

“The Site Magazine impresses readers with the consistency
of its content and design. Though highly specialized, this audacious magazine
captures the essence of contemporary publishing through a conceptual approach
that illuminates our time in an intelligent, deep and original way. The result
is a great reader experience on every page, one that is truly deserving of the
Magazine Grand Prix.”

The Site was also named Best Magazine: Art
& Literary and won Silver in the category of Best Editorial Package for
its whole-issue package titled “Future Legacies.”

For the 2017 awards year, 197
Canadian magazines entered the National Magazine Awards, which are managed by the National Media Awards Foundation, submitting the work of
more than 2,000 writers, editors, photographers, illustrators, art directors
and other creators. The NMAF’s 150 volunteer judges nominated a total of 208
submissions from 81 different Canadian publications for awards in 29 written
and visual, editorial and best magazine categories.

Category results in the Grand Prix: Best Magazine were

Best
Magazine: General Interest

Gold:
L’actualité

Honourable Mention: Nouveau Projet and Report on Business

Best Magazine: Lifestyle

Gold: Ricardo

Honourable Mention: Chatelaine
and explore

Best Magazine: Service

Gold: Best Health

Honourable Mention: Rotman
Management and Today’s Parent

Best Magazine: Fashion &
Beauty

Gold: FASHION Magazine

Honourable Mention: ELLE
Canada and S/magazine

Best Magazine: Art &
Literary

Gold: The Site Magazine

Honourable Mention: Brick
and Inuit Art Quarterly

Best Magazine: Special
Interest

Gold: Hayo

Honourable Mention: Azure
and Planète F

The magazines with the most awards were as follows:

Magazine

GOLD

SILVER

HM

L’actualité

3

4

6

Dînette Magazine

3

0

2

The Site Magazine

2

1

0

Toronto Life

2

1

6

The Walrus

2

0

10

Maclean’s

2

0

5

Canadian Geographic

2

0

2

FASHION Magazine

1

1

7

L’inconvénient

1

1

1

Lianne George of Chatelaine named Editor Grand Prix

New this year, the award for Editor Grand Prix , was presented to Lianne George (right), editor of Chatelaine magazine. Charles Grandmont (L’actualité) and
Nicolas Langelier (Nouveau Projet) each received an honourable
mention.

The award for best new magazine writer, presented to an emerging author whose early work in magazines
shows the highest degree of craft and promise, went toJessica Rosefor her piece “Lost and Found” published in Toronto Life. The National Magazine
Awards jury said of the story:

“With the suspense and pacing of a great
mystery, Rose unwinds her own search for family and belonging with an
outstanding, unputdownable rookie effort.”

Announced previously, the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement -- the most prestigious award the industry can offer an individual -- was presented to Joyce Byrne, the publisher of Avenue Calgary and formerly president of the NMAs. magazine-awards.com/oa

Highlights of the 41st National Magazine Awards:

The magazines with the most awards were as follows:

Magazine

GOLD

SILVER

HM

L’actualité

3

4

6

Dînette Magazine

3

0

2

The Site Magazine

2

1

0

Toronto Life

2

1

6

The Walrus

2

0

10

Maclean’s

2

0

5

Canadian Geographic

2

0

2

FASHION Magazine

1

1

7

L’inconvénient

1

1

The magazine L’actualitéwon three Gold and four Silver medals. Reporter and columnist Noémi Mercier (the host for the evening) captured Gold for her column “Des gars, des filles.” In the Service Journalism category, L’actualité swept both awards, with
journalist Yanick Villedieu taking Gold for “La guerre au sucre” and Mathilde Roy Silver for “Quand Facebook remplit les biberons.” Data
journalist Naël Shiab also captured Silver in Investigative
Reporting for his story “Marchandises militaires : la grande hypocrisie
canadienne,” as did Marc-André Sabourin in the Feature Writing category for “L’école à la chaîne. The magazine art
director, Amélie Chamberland, also won silver for Art Direction of a Single Magazine Article for the
piece “Changer le monde.” Finally, the publication
was named Best General Interest Magazine.

Toronto
Life took home three medals, two golds and one
silver. The coveted Best New Magazine Writer title went to emerging writer –
and the magazine’s former art director – Jessica Rose, who impressed the
judges with her piece “Lost and Found.” As well, writer Raizel Robin won
a Gold medal for his investigation into the Toronto South Detention Centre
(“The 1-Billion Hellhole”). Finally, Toronto Life captured its third
award of the night thanks to Malcolm Johnston’s profile of the Blue
Jays’ star third-baseman, titled “Josh Donaldson’s Road to Glory.”

The Walruswon two Gold medals in the visual categories of Illustration and
Portrait Photography. Visual artist Lauren Tamaki captured Gold for her piece “Get the Scissors,” as did photographer Sara Hylton in Portrait
Photography thanks to her “Portraits of Resilience.”

Maclean’s magazine won two National Magazine Awards, both Gold. Writer Jason Markusoff took home the award for Feature Writing (“The New Underground Railroad”), and Nancy Macdonald
for Short Feature Writing (“Waiting for Death in
Thunder Bay”).

The Canadian
Geographicteam also took home two
Gold Medals. Wade Davis, Nick Walker and Chris Brackley won in the category of One-of-a-Kind
Storytelling for their “Indigenous languages of
Canada Poster Map,” and writer Charles
Wilkins in the writing category of Long-Form Feature Writing for his story “Trash Nation.”

FASHION Magazine’s work was recognized twice, as the publication captured a Gold and a
Silver Medal. The magazine was named Best Fashion & Beauty Magazine in
addition to winning Silver for Cover Grand Prix for “40 Years of Style.”

The French-language literary publication L’inconvénientcaptured two awards after receiving its first-ever nominations at the
National Magazine Awards. Poet Rosalie Lessard won the Gold Medal in Poetry for her piece “Base-de-roc,” the first time in the history of the National Magazine Awards that a
French-language poem has captured the Gold Medal. Meanwhile photographer David Himbert won Silver in Photojournalism and Photo Essay for his Cuban story “Les Cubains et l’après-Fidel.”

Five magazines won a National Magazine Award for the first time: Hayo, Inuit Art Quarterly, L’inconvénient, Registered Nurse Journal and The Site Magazine.